Craftsman 917.276750 transmission dead?

[dart451]

Have a customer that claims he used his tractor at the end of the fall and when he started it up, it no longer goes forward or backwards. I got it to the shop and it goes into gear, the top tranny pully spins just fine but it won't move forward or backwards. I've worked on this tractor last year, never had any transmission problems that were reported. All the linkage looks ok and like I said, the tranny pully is spinning, belt appears to be plenty tight...any suggestions like douse it with gasoline and at least have a barbecue??

[KE4AVB]

Check for missing axle key. Customers a lot times have flats and remove the rear wheels and forget or don't know about the axle key. Can be either side that is missing the key. Just a thought.

[dart451]

I'll ask but I doubt that has happened. The customer is in rather poor health and never does anything to the tractor...

I actually called the customer and he said that he did take off one of the tires to have a flat fixed but states that the tractor stopped moving before he did this...said he mowed the lawn, parked it, next morning, it would no longer move!

[bgsengine]

I'll ask but I doubt that has happened. The customer is in rather poor health and never does anything to the tractor...

I actually called the customer and he said that he did take off one of the tires to have a flat fixed but states that the tractor stopped moving before he did this...said he mowed the lawn, parked it, next morning, it would no longer move!

easy enough - put it in gear and see if tractor rolls (brake not applied) with engine off , if it does, get down on one side , pop off any hubcap so you can see the axle and watch it while rolling tire, if axle moves with the tire same direction, check other side, chances are good you will see axle moving the opposite rotation from tire - voila, you know which has the key missing

[dart451]

I'll ask but I doubt that has happened. The customer is in rather poor health and never does anything to the tractor...

I actually called the customer and he said that he did take off one of the tires to have a flat fixed but states that the tractor stopped moving before he did this...said he mowed the lawn, parked it, next morning, it would no longer move!

easy enough - put it in gear and see if tractor rolls (brake not applied) with engine off , if it does, get down on one side , pop off any hubcap so you can see the axle and watch it while rolling tire, if axle moves with the tire same direction, check other side, chances are good you will see axle moving the opposite rotation from tire - voila, you know which has the key missing

Only problem bgengine is the customer stated that the tractor stopped moving before he took the tire off on one side. However, I will check this in the morning...thank you for your input! You'd think it's something easy considering it was operating just fine one day and not the next...lol

[bgsengine]

I'll ask but I doubt that has happened. The customer is in rather poor health and never does anything to the tractor...

I actually called the customer and he said that he did take off one of the tires to have a flat fixed but states that the tractor stopped moving before he did this...said he mowed the lawn, parked it, next morning, it would no longer move!

easy enough - put it in gear and see if tractor rolls (brake not applied) with engine off , if it does, get down on one side , pop off any hubcap so you can see the axle and watch it while rolling tire, if axle moves with the tire same direction, check other side, chances are good you will see axle moving the opposite rotation from tire - voila, you know which has the key missing

Only problem bgengine is the customer stated that the tractor stopped moving before he took the tire off on one side. However, I will check this in the morning...thank you for your input! You'd think it's something easy considering it was operating just fine one day and not the next...lol

Yeah and people never hit anything with their lawnmower, the flywheel key just magically sheared and the blade bent 90 degrees all by itself ... and that fresh oil in the engine has been in there for the last 30 hours of run time...

customer stories are always taken with a grain of salt ... never assume you got the straight skinny on anything

[Skywatcher]

Hi Dart

Also check to see if the transmission manual override hasn't inadvertently been activated. I have actually seen the override activated by a stick that was kicked up by the mower deck. I don't know exactly hoe it happened, but the stick was wedged up between the transaxle and the rear frame pushing on the link just enough to disengage the transmission. The other thing I would double check is to see if the input shaft is turning, the pulley may be spinning around the shaft without actually driving it. All the best,

Sky

[KE4AVB]

Sky this one doesn't have a hydro according to the IPL of the model given. It is showing a Peerless MST200 series, probably either a MST206-508B or MST206-545C.

[dart451]

I would like to thank you all for the idea of the key way missing! Sure enough, I found one of the keys missing on the left side of the tractor! The customer swore that the mower wouldn't move prior to him taking a wheel off but it appears that he was mistaken! I would never have thought of this but now I will always consider it! Thank you very much for all your help!

[KE4AVB]

Wait until you get one in that you personally roll off the trailer and push to work area because it won't move. Then when you jack it up one the rear wheels falls off.

I had this happen last year where the axle had snapped. It keep going because of the differential automatic lock and worn the case out losing all the oil of the hydro pump. $2000 mower and the customer would not even spend the $500 to rebuild the transaxle.